Bare Walls No More

I hate nothing more than going into a classroom and seeing bare walls or posters that are too small or illegible.  It's a missed opportunity!  Your walls are another chance to provide information to your students, make good use of them.

Here are some of the things I try to remember as I decorate my room.

1.  Choose text that children can read.
There are so many times that I see visuals that have beautiful text but it takes me a minute to decode.  I don't want children to have to guess at what I'm trying to tell them, so I make sure to use large easy to read fonts.

2. Background
White and Black are my go to's for bulletin board paper.  I love the light blues and purples my school provides but they aren't the most practical or versatile.  A nice white or black background lets the images you put on top stand out.

3. Simple
Putting too much together or in random patterns is visually distracting.  Keep it simple and clean so that everything is easy on the eye.  Less is more!

4. Useful
I'm just as guilty as the next teacher of buying pre-made bulletin board decor because it's cute.  I have this wonderful Toucan music visual that is cute and informational but you can't see it across the room.  If you aren't going to reference it ever in your teaching, then is it really necessary?  Does another picture of a composer really need to be up if you aren't teaching about that composer?  I have nothing against these resources, they're things that I have but before I put them up I want to think how they are going to impact my students.